(g) What does young Graeme get hit in the face with while playing Rolleregg?

(h) What does Tim do with the urn that holds the Ashes at Lords?

The answers are listed at the end of this newsletter.

2. A MESSAGE FROM THE PREZ

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(by Lisa Manekofsky – GROK President)

When I first joined the Goodies Rule - OK! Fan Club back in 1999 I was surprised to discover the club published a monthly newsletter. After all, it had been nearly twenty years since "The Goodies" television show had aired its final first-run episode, and even fan clubs for more recent series might only produce a quarterly publication. Once I read a few issues of the Clarion & Globe I understood - thanks to the enthusiasm and creativity of the newsletter's staff, not to mention Tim, Graeme, & Bill's many current projects, GROK was able to put out an entertaining and informative publication every month.

Because the newsletter was primarily distributed electronically (via email and being posted on the fan club's website) the club was able to continue the newsletter's publication far longer than I would have expected - an amazing 17 years and 201 issues (including special editions!) However, as Brett previously explained in last month's edition, with the staggering changes in internet use & availability, not to mention the lightning speed of information distribution via websites, social media, etc., the time has come to retire our trusty C&G, with the assurance that Goodies fans will continue to receive news and other features via the club's website and mailing list.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all the newsletter staff and contributors over the years. Since the first issue was published 17 years ago this month there are too many people to thank individually, but special appreciation must be expressed to the C&G's first editor, Alison Bean, and to Brett Allender, who took over the reins from Alison in 2000 and remained at the helm until this final issue.

Given Brett's many years of service, obviously something special needed to be done to mark his retirement. A gold watch was far too conventional a gift for our looney editor, so for guidance we turned to The Goodies episode "Cunning Stunts", which showed Bill's departure (by firing) from the original Clarion & Globe newspaper; this yielded the perfect solution. Hence to commemorate his leaving our Clarion & Globe newsletter, Brett is now the proud awardee of a piece of cheese with an accompanying "engraved" plaque reading 'To Brett "William Edgar Oddle" Allender - Good Riddance!' (photo included in the website edition of the C&G)

With this Goodies-inspired symbol of our gratitude we look forward to many more years of Brett's contributions and inspired lunacy on the Goodies Rule - OK! Fan Club website.

(Editor's note: Oh woe is Brie, is Swiss all I get for my years of writing about the Goudas?! Well Colby hornswaggled … I might even Cheddar tear or two as I feel so Blue (Stilton) after going out on a Limb(urger) with writing so many cheesy articles and I Camembert a time long ago when it was Par(mesan) for the course and a Feta-complis for my puns to at least provide Havarti groan or two. Yet now I've been fobbed off with a rotten old piece of cheese to Gorgon, Zola, and it's a London to a Brick Mozza (rella) that you never even Gruyere own cows in the first place, Butterkase you're not going to admit it, of curds! Guess I'll just have to have my cheese (and mice!) and Edam too while I go off to do something silly … edit the rest of this final edition of the C&G!)

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3. SPOTTED!!!

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More exciting than getting your wig-spotters badge! Here's where we've Spotted!!! the Goodies this edition:

CENSORED GOODIES

(Lisa Manekofsky – 19th Aug)

Australian newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have run articles about the discovery of footage which had been censored from episodes of "The Goodies" during their 1970's broadcasts on the ABC. While it's great to have feature newspaper articles about The Goodies, especially ones including extensive quotes from Tim, Graeme, and Bill, the timing of these articles is a little odd. The footage was discovered in 2009 by ABC Archivist John Williams; some of the recovered clips were shown publicly that year by Tim and Graeme during their shows at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta (October 15) and the World's Funniest Island in Sydney (October 17 & 18). John kindly had provided the story about how he recovered the footage for the fan club's Clarion & Globe Newsletter - it appeared in the November 2009 World's Funniest Island Special Edition which can be found online at http://www.goodiesruleok.com/articles.php?id=164

Today's new articles about the censored footage can be found at:

1. Sydney Morning Herald: "The Goodies on the baddies the censors blocked"

The printed version has the same still from the shower scene shown in the online version.

(Lisa Manekofsky – 21st Aug)

The story about the discovery of the material censored from "The Goodies" in Australia back in the 1970's has now reached the UK papers. Below are links to two stories in today's edition of The Telegraph.

The Goodies' naughty bits revealed for the first time in Australia, 30 years after "Bottomless Bill" was censored

A series of clips from The Goodies that were censored in Australia and feature topless girls and "Bottomless Bill" has emerged at the country's national archives.

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney

10:56AM BST 20 Aug 2012

Australian censors cut 21 clips from 12 episodes of the show, which aired at 5-30pm in Australia, compared with its usual 8pm time-slot in Britain.

The clips, deemed inappropriate for young audiences, include male and female nudity and a scene in which Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie drop a coin on the pavement in the hope that a short-skirted passer-by will bend down to retrieve it. In another censored scene, Tim Brooke-Taylor, advertising a cleaning powder called Fairy Puff, encourages a young woman to remove pieces of clothing and have them washed.

Bill Oddie said the cuts were "mainly understandable" and that he and his fellow Goodies had resisted the BBC's suggestion of an earlier timeslot in Britain. He said the only attempts at BBC censorship were "when we offended the sensibilities of the BBC hierarchy itself".

"The truth is that The Goodies was originally intended to be a bit risqué," he told The Sun-Herald newspaper. "Recreational or indeed hallucinatory drugs were integral... Violence to animals was a recurring theme... We were first broadcast at 10pm, and early shows included such adult ingredients as a topless girl, which in a later episode escalated to a bottomless Bill."

The cuts included a clip from a 1973 episode "Caught in the Act", which was censored to remove back view female nudity. The episode was deemed "extremely funny and relatively innocuous" by the authorities, who ruled that "the visual detail and sexually orientated dialogue" made it suitable for adults only.

Bottomless Bill, who appeared in a 1973 episode, prompted the censors at the Film Classification Board to write: "Twenty minutes into this GE [general approval rating] which is a knockabout satire on the police, delete shot of naked figure (back to camera) in pool in park."

A series of clips from The Goodies that were censored in Australia and feature topless girls and "Bottomless Bill" have been released by the country's national archives.

11:26AM BST 20 Aug 2012

"Gets right to the dirt of the wash" is an excerpt from an episode of The Goodies that was censored from broadcast in Australia in the 1970s. In it Tim Brooke-Taylor encourages a young woman to remove her clothing on the pretext of advertising a cleaning powder called Fairy Puff.

Australian censors cut 21 clips from 12 episodes of the show, which aired at 5-30pm in Australia, compared with its usual 8pm time-slot in Britain.

CUDDLY SCAMP, MASTERMIND CHAMP!

(Lisa Manekofsky – 22nd Aug)

Thanks to Richard Sleeman for the information that The Goodies will be a subject on "Mastermind" this coming Friday, 24 August on BBC 2 at 20:00.

A 47-year-old man has appeared before Perth Sheriff court accused of causing fear and alarm by being aggressive with a black pudding.

Bradley Davidson is alleged to have behaved in a threatening and abusive manner before hurling the blood sausage across a room.

He also faces a charge of assaulting a 10-year-old girl on the same date by kicking her on the leg.

Mr Davidson denied the charge and the case will be heard next month.

He is alleged to have behaved "in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear and alarm in that you did act in an aggressive manner, shout and throw a black pudding across the room".

The incident is alleged to have taken place in Mr Davidson's flat in Perth, on 13 May this year.

A third charge alleges that he damaged property by kicking a door and causing a glass panel to smash.

Procurator fiscal depute Stuart Richardson told the court that the Crown were prepared for trial and the case was continued until 16 October.

GOODIES LWT SERIES DVD REISSUE

(Lisa Manekofsky – 16th Oct)

Thanks to Blabs for posting this news in the www.goodiesruleok.com forums. The Goodies LWT series is being reissued in Australia (the original DVD release from 2008 had gone out of print). "The Goodies - The Final Episodes" is scheduled for release on 21 November. We have no information yet about whether the set will include any bonus features.

Here's a description of the set from the ABC Shop website (http://shop.abc.net.au/products/goodies-the-dvd-final-eps): " One of the most loved comedy shows of the seventies and early eighties, The Goodies made household names of its cast, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor, in a show highly rated for its visual humour and surreal take on life. The 9th and final series include Snow White 2, Robot, Football Crazy, Big Foot, Change of Life, Holiday and Animals are People Too all loaded with The Goodies trademark left-of-centre humour."

The Goodies Gingerbread Contest is back! The top pick in the prize pool this year has to be the postcards which Jenny Doyle has kindly donated, featuring her own Goodies fan art. All you have to do to get a chance to own those is... guess what... take part in the contest and hope that the public vote will settle on you to be the winner! Deadline for contributions is November 30th, so keep that in mind and keep an eye on http://goodiescontest.wordpress.com/ and http://www.twitter.com/GoodiesContest

* Bill has donated a pair of autographed walking boots the Small Steps Celebrity Shoe Auction 2012 on eBay. (In case you were wondering, Bill wears a size 8 boot). The auction item number is 110961855315 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/110961855315 ); the auction ends on 21 October (though please check the end date/time for your local area if you are interested in bidding).

Bill Oddie: 'My dad became both parents when my mum was taken into a psychiatric hospital when I was six. I didn't appreciate at the time what strength he had'

By Rob Mcgibbon

PUBLISHED:20:26 EST, 12 October 2012

We ask a celebrity a set of devilishly probing questions - and only accept THE definitive answer. This week: presenter and ex-Goodie Bill Oddie

The prized possession you value above all others.

My Victorian house by Hampstead Heath in north London. Every room is full of memories.

The unqualified regret you wish you could amend.

I wish I'd learnt to read music. I can play drums and a bit of guitar, but I can't read music. If I could I'd definitely have made music my career.

The way you would spend your fantasy 24 hours, with no travel restrictions.

I'd wake after a perfect eight hours' sleep. I'd begin with birdwatching in Central Park, New York, at 5.30am to see a great 'fall' of migrant American birds, like warblers and thrushes - it's like it's raining birds. I'd then nip into Greenwich Village for a cream cheese and smoked salmon bagel. I'd spend some time searching online for rare CDs, then my wife Laura would join me for lunch on a beach near Cape Town where you can whale-watch. We'd have a siesta in the serenity of the hotel on Bird Island in the Seychelles. In the early evening I'd go to Jim Corbett National Park in northern India for an elephant ride to see some tigers. At some point I'd have a glass of Metaxa brandy, but not too much, nor too late.

The temptation you wish you could resist.

Snacks late at night, like crisps, nuts or After Eight mints.

The book that holds an everlasting resonance.

Birds Of Britain And Europe by naturalist Roger Tory Peterson. It came out in the 60s and was the first well-illustrated bird book.

The priority activity if you were the Invisible Man for a day.

I'd go to central Africa to sit among the gorillas.

The pet hate that makes your hackles rise.

The BBC asking me every year to do Strictly Come Dancing! I hate ballroom dancing with a passion.

The film you can watch time and time again.

This Is Spinal Tap is a masterful comedy and beautifully observed. It always cheers me up.

The person who has influenced you most.

My dad, Harry. He became both parents when my mum, Lilian, was taken into a psychiatric hospital when I was six. I didn't appreciate at the time what strength he had. He died at 57 from breathing problems.

The figure from history for whom you'd most like to buy a pie and a pint.

Sir Peter Scott, Captain Robert Scott's son, who did incredible things for nature conservation. He's a hero of mine.

The piece of wisdom you would pass on to a child.

Just because a person is an adult, it doesn't mean they know best.

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity.

I adore music by Prince. He's a rock god and I probably have everything he's ever released.

The treasured item you lost and wish you could have again.

Our local post office because it was the heart of our community. It closed three years ago despite a big campaign to save it.

The unending quest that drives you on.

To never become a grumpy old person who whinges about the youth of today. I'm 71 and intend to remain interested in what youngsters do. I love their energy.

The poem that touches your soul.

No poem has ever touched my soul but I'm obsessed with lyrics by the likes of Randy Newman, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. Joni's song The Magdalene Laundries is beautiful and very moving.

The misapprehension about yourself you wish you could erase.

That I'm ill. I was diagnosed as bipolar three years ago. I have been all sorted for the past two years, but there's still this sense that I'm not available for work.

The event that altered the course of your life and character.

Having a complete breakdown 11 years ago. It was hard having to accept I had an illness.

The crime you would commit knowing you could get away with it.

I'd jump traffic queues by driving in bus lanes.

The song that means most to you.

I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt makes me cry, but I love it.

The happiest moment you will cherish forever.

Being at Wembley Stadium with my dad for the 1953 FA Cup Final when Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3. It became known as 'The Matthews Final' because Stanley Matthews set up the goals for Blackpool to come back from 3-1 down.

The saddest time that shook your world.

Re-meeting my mother for the first time since I was 14 when I was in my 40s. I went to her flat in Manchester and she just sat there smoking. It was like meeting a stranger.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you.

To make Inspired By Nature, a series I started working on with the BBC three years ago which got shelved because of cuts. It tells how nature has inspired the arts.

The philosophy that underpins your life.

Always tell the truth.

The order of service at your funeral.

I'm an atheist, so I will have a humanist funeral. I want to come in to Nothing Compares 2 U by Prince and disappear to Cocktails For Two by Spike Jones. My ashes can be scattered on Hampstead Heath. I love it there.

The way you want to be remembered...

As someone who made good television programmes that touched people.

The Plug... I blog on my website www.billoddie.com and I tweet at @billoddie. Please support the great charities that are protecting our environment.

Ella Griffiths talks to the nation's favourite twitcher about Footlights, wildlife and girlfriends.

Bill Oddie is a man of multiple different parts. With a Wikipedia page describing him as an actor, writer, musician, composer, comedian, artist, ornithologist and television presenter, this is no one-trick pony. When I meet the lovable Springwatch presenter at the Cambridge Union, I ask whether he has prepared a speech for the event tonight. 'No', he chuckles: 'I think I've got enough to talk about'.

In a checked flannel shirt and battered walking shoes, the rotund and furry-faced 70-year-old lounges on his armchair. After all, this is a man who received his OBE for his work in wildlife conversation at Buckingham Palace in a camouflage shirt. As a student at Pembroke College in the 1960's, I ask whether he is enjoying being back in Cambridge. 'It is very unreal', he says. He attributes this to the changes that have taken place since his graduation, especially in terms of the new mixed-sex colleges. 'The biggest change that I never get over is the fact that there are people like you!', he laughs, pointing at me and whispering: ' females!' under his breath. 'You can imagine, it's a big change; back then, they were few and far between, so a sighting of a girl walking down the street would be in the papers!' Did he have any illicit relationships as an undergraduate? 'I did for part of the time have a girlfriend but it was a tragic tale', Bill says drily. 'She was out at Girton so we'd have to cycle complete with all the usual nonsense of climbing over the walls. We had a very liberal head of college at Pembroke who seemed to have carefully positioned a lamppost by the bike sheds and wall, perhaps even with a cushion over the other side ..'

In retrospect, he would have preferred university life to have featured more girls, since this gender segregation spread over to the Footlights. Indeed, when people ask the comedian and actor where he studied, he replies that 'I spent three years at the Footlights but not Cambridge'. Bill studied English Literature on an exhibition after his education at King Edward's School in Birmingham, although his academic studies suffered when he began to find the degree stifling. 'I absolutely did not enjoy it; I got no pleasure out of it and I was put off reading for life, I think, because you would always start planning how you would write your essay instead of enjoying the book'. He experimented with his childhood passion for rugby before realising that it was at a different level in Cambridge. 'Some of the people had done national service so you did have a strand of people who were twenty-three and brilliant sportsmen', he remembers. 'You didn't stand a bloody chance against them so there was no way I was ever going to get anywhere particular . Footlights really was the saviour'. Despite finding the professionalism and talent-spotting pressure of the performances intimidating, they soon became his whole undergraduate world after getting involved with the group: 'I just lived there; the Footlights was undoubtedly what being at Cambridge was about after that'.

Did this experience in comedy and theatre proved invaluable for his early career co-writing and acting in iconic television series The Goodies? 'Oh God Almighty, I'd be nowhere without it, totally. In a practical sense, heaven knows the legacy lingers, because it was during that period in the early sixties that people would come from the BBC in London to see if they could spot young talent. You'd be doing a musical or smoker - whatever they are, I still don't know - and then nudge, nudge, there'd be a couple of guys from the BBC sitting in the background'. This atmosphere of competitive performance actively lead to work as Bill began writing television scripts for That Was The Week That Was while an undergraduate before becoming a national treasure as a famous BBC wildlife presenter.

After all this dabbling with television and comedy: why birds? He laughs uproariously like an earthy Santa Claus and explains that bird-watching has been his favourite pastime since childhood. 'Funnily enough, I did very little birding whilst I was at Cambridge and I've never figured out why. It just stayed as a hobby completely and was always there, whatever else I was doing with some of the same people'. Even on an American tour with the 1960's BBC radio comedy series featuring John Cleese, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (known on the tour as Cambridge Circus), Bill would explore the local wildlife. 'It was an amazing experience being on Broadway in New York in 1964 .. Oh yes! It was stunning; there are lots of strange tales and memories of it. But wherever I went, if I was every allowed any time off, I'd be back in an hour and see what I could find'. Eventually, his twitching hobby became a central facet of his success after The Goodies ended and his hobby became more prominent. 'I was doing bits and pieces and some journalist found out about my hobby, wrote a little article and fortunately it just escalated from there'.

Most people will know Bill as the eccentric presenter of the BBC wildlife programmes, Springwatch and Autumnwatch. Was he surprised when the nature documentary become so wildly popular with viewers? 'No, I wasn't, because if you get the right ingredients and the right pictures and the right characters and present it properly as live action, you've got some pretty safe bankers there'. Bill was one half of the charming and enthusiastic duo that he formed with fellow presenter Kate Humble, with whom he worked for numerous years. 'We had some great times and we were appallingly misbehaved during rehearsals - if they'd been cross with us I wouldn't have been surprised, as we would just be silly, and some website or another even voted us comedy duo of the year'. Why did they work so well as a team in creating a new face for wildlife conservation? 'I don't know whether she would admit this but I think early on she was a bit intimidated by the whole thing because she wasn't a wildlife expert even though she's an excellent presenter. In the second series, I think she got it spot on, because she is not so much the expert as the intelligent companion talking on behalf of the viewers, so she challenged me and I thought that worked great'.

In his exciting, varied and mildly chaotic career, I wonder what Bill would consider his greatest achievement. 'I've learnt over the years that when people come up to me and say that some programme that I was connected with was an integral part of what made their life enjoyable, that is a great thing to hear'. This refers to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again which 'apparently got all sorts of stressed children through their exams' and the adoring fans that still watch The Goodies: faking a twanging accent, he smiles when describing how Australians 'still come up to me and go 'gah bloody 'ell mate, part of my childhood, you know, ah that's fantastic!' More obscurely, he affectionately remembers working for a radio station in London and playing jazz music on his own programme. 'I had people come back and say you know, you'd played something exciting so I went out and got the record, and I loved that'. Inevitably, Bill finally lists Springwatch and Autumnwatch as two of the highlights of his career. I tell him that he has changed public views about wildlife while giving years of entertainment through the anarchic humour of The Goodies. He gives another gracious laugh and leans back in his armchair. 'Well, as long as I enjoy it. I mean, bugger it if they do - what about me?'

(18th Oct)

* I stumbled across this video earlier today - "The Ballad of Bill Oddie"

HOSTED by Craig Reucassel (The Hamster Wheel), this promising first episode features a panel of comedians and special guests including Kitty Flanagan, Toby Truslove (former BMX champion), Simon Simmons and Julian Morrow (The Chaser's War on Everything), each presenting on a range of topics - beards, Apple, childbirth, the origins of OMG - while the panel try to spot the truth in "a barrage of lies". The dynamic between the players is close to perfect, with cracking one-liners zinging from the get-go. It's fast, amusing and unearths some truly remarkable facts. Reucassel makes for a relaxed host, deftly orchestrating his guests without being overbearing. A very pregnant and reliably funny Flanagan is a standout, while Truslove's spiel on beards is a close second. I'm looking forward to future guests Sarah Kendall and Celia Pacquola.

What do you get when you pack a stage full of comedians? Punchlines. Lots of them. And now you get The Unbelievable Truth, the bastard love-child of Graeme "Goodie" Garden and the Chaser's Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Hansen.

"It's a show about truth and lies," says Garden, still best known for his work with comic trio the Goodies. "There are four players and each of them gives a talk and the whole talk has to be untrue, so they can make up the silliest, funniest lies about any topic that people can talk about. But within that they've got to smuggle five truths past the other people, so of course you want to find the truths that sound the least believable. So the most bizarre truths are stitched into all this pack of lies.

"The other players have to buzz in when they think they've spotted a truth. If it is a truth, they get a point. If they get it wrong, they lose a point. And at the end of it, the person who is talking counts up how many truths they managed to smuggle past the others, so it's a scoring game – played very, very seriously.

"Also, when people buzz in there's usually some debate and discussion and argument about how true things are, so there's a lot of fun to be had from the banter. Because the easiest thing in the world is to put in an inadvertent truth."

In the spirit of the game, then, here is a series of untrue statements about Graeme Garden, into which one truth has been smuggled. One: the Scottish quipper met fellow Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor in the 1960s when all three were students at Cambridge University. Two: he studied medicine, following in the footsteps of his dad, an orthopaedic surgeon who invented the "Garden screw", which fixes hip fractures. Three: Garden completed his studies but chose to pursue a career in comedy instead of saving lives. Four: his son plays keyboards for the camp pop band Scissor Sisters. Five: The Unbelievable Truth is based on a hit BBC radio show of the same name.

So, which one of those statements is true? Actually, they all are.

"We've done nine radio series now, 51 programs, and are still going strong. So we know the format is robust," Garden says. "And we obviously have different people on the show and it works well with any style of comic. They write their own material and they bring their own style to the show. We've never had a problem - although, after they've written them, we tend to script edit."

This is the first time the show has been adapted for television, a process that carries with it both possibilities and challenges. "On the radio, there's just one researcher," Garden says. "Here there's a big team of editors, graphic designers, illustrators and researchers working on the show."

The collaboration between Garden and the Chaser stems from 2009, when Andrew Hansen was MC during a series of gigs with Garden and Brooke-Taylor. "The whole thing grew out of Andrew's dream come true of hosting that tour," says the show's executive producer, Julian Morrow.

"We got talking after those shows," says Hansen, who appears as a regular panellist. "Graeme said, 'We've got this radio show, I was thinking maybe we could make one in Australia'. So I said, 'We don't make comedy radio shows in Australia, there's no such thing, you'd have to make it as a TV show.'

"He said, 'Maybe we could do that. Do you know of any production companies in Australia that might be interested in something like that?' I had a long think about how to respond and then very cheekily said, 'Well, we've got a little production company ."'

Morrow laughs. "That's the thing I find most amazing," he says. "Andrew is the least entrepreneurial, least business-savvy person on the planet. When Andrew rang and said, 'I think I might have just teed up a little deal with Graeme from the Goodies', I said, 'Are you serious?' I thought it wasn't true, that Andrew had misinterpreted a conversation."

But true it turned out to be, as Morrow, Hansen and Reucassel were lured from the ABC to Channel Seven to make the project.

During the taping that The Guide attends, host Reucassel is joined by Hansen, Gay, Saleh and the Umbilical Brothers's David Collins. At one point, there is a dispute about a claim. Is it true? Or is it a lie? Confusion reigns.

"The Chasers," Collins says. "Where near enough is always good enough."

"You're making us sound better than we are," Hansen replies.

Shooting the show in front of a live studio audience creates an unpredictable energy. The crowd is in stitches when Saleh's monologue descends into anarchic improvisation. Much of the comedy is surreal. Especially the comedy from the audience.

"Anyone got any questions for Craig?" the floor manager asks the audience during a break. "Yeah, can I have a sandwich?" someone asks. "I was told there would be sandwiches."

The game resumes. After another surreal monologue, Reucassel chastises Saleh. "You lose a point," he says. "What do you win on this show anyway?" Saleh shoots back. "Nothing."

Not true. You earn the coveted title of Australia's funniest liar. And that takes a lot of work. Dishonesty is anything but effortless.

I'm sure our Australian chums know that The Unbelievable Truth goes out on Channel 7 TV on Thursday 11th. This is just to let you know that I should be appearing on Breakfast Radio (not sure which channel) the following Thursday 18th, as that's the day the show I am in airs.

There seems to be a good buzz about the show in the press, so let's hope it's well received by the viewers.

For nine seasons and 76 episodes Graeme Garden was one third of The Goodies,

and to many Australians he always will be.

Together with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie, he produced classic British comedy from 1970 - 1982, replayed relentlessly on Australian television.

The replays have made The Goodies trio revered by generations and Garden (pictured, second from left) remains grateful.

"You get the impression it's part of the culture because everyone saw it every night over here, for years and years," he says.

"We have a big fan base and footprint in Australia. Much bigger than the UK. They never repeated it. So after 1982 or whenever it was we were never seen again."

In Australia he is still recognised despite the intervening decades.

"I do look a bit different but they still seem to recognise me now and again. I don't know how!" he laughs.

"In the UK they recognise my voice more because I'm on the radio."

Three die-hard fans, Craig Reucassel, Julian Morrow and Andrew Hansen were so determined to work with Garden on a TV adaptation of his long-running radio show The Unbelievable Truth they were willing to work with Seven for their first commercial TV project.

"It started when Tim Brooke-Taylor and I were on Cockatoo Island (comedy festival) and Andrew interviewed us. We'd been talking about developing the radio show over in the UK and I suggested possibly getting it going in Australia. But of course there's no kind of radio outlet for it," Garden explains.

"I spoke to The Chaser guys and they said 'We could give it a go on television.' So the upshot is here we are."

The series sees three celebrity panelists asked to lie on a given subject, whilst also trying to include several truths without being detected.

"I thought it was much funnier to have a lecture which is entirely untrue and then try and some facts in that. So bizarre facts are hidden amongst bizarre lies, which means that you can do so many more gags. With any luck the bizarre truths are as funny as the lies."

The radio version has been running on the BBC since 1985 but the Seven series is the first television adaptation

"There's an amazing team of graphics, artists, photographers, editors, who are producing lots of images that we can drop in to illustrate as we go along. I'm amazed by the amount of stuff they've produced in a very short time and how well they cue them in at exactly the right moment.

"That gives the show a whole flavour and a big lift and really makes it television."

In the UK the host is Peep Show's David Mitchell.

"Unfortunately he's already involved in two shows on television that are to do with truth and lies. So we thought rather than offer it up and get knocked back for that reason, we'd bide our time until the other shows grind to a halt, and then maybe push for it then!

"In the UK we have a long history of panel shows going right back to early radio days and a lot were developed on radio before moving to television.

"I think audiences in the UK are used to a diet of panel games and they respond very well to them. Here I don't know if audiences respond to them as well. With this one I would have thought you'd have as many laughs as you would in a good sitcom."

Garden is no stranger to the art of deception, having also been host of the UK series of Tell the Truth.

"It was a team show about truth and lies with somebody claiming to be somebody interesting and two of them being liars and the panel had to question them," he says.

"This one is only similar in that it's about truth and lies. The panel don't get to question the speaker, they just have to interrupt and say 'That's a truth!' whenever they think they've spotted one.

Garden says Australia's "go-for-it culture" sees The Chaser team bringing energy to the TV version, although shooting has required some explanation to studio audiences.

"Because they don't really know how the game works we play a round with the audience before the show starts. We get them out to show them how the game works and once they know how it works they can appreciate it from the start," he says.

"They've been very much up for it, whooping and cheering when people score points, so it's very exciting."

Lastly for Goodies fans, there is good news on the horizon with the three veteran comedians still close friends.

"I work with Tim all the time on our other radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and I see Bill now and again. The three of us came out in 2005 and did a stage tour and Tim and I have been back again. Tim and I are certainly hoping to come back and do some things," he says.

Sometimes truth is far stranger than fiction. Seven's new comedy panel game show The Unbelievable Truth relies on this statement to smuggle through strange facts hidden in an often hilarious web of lies.

Produced by Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Andrew Hansen from The Chaser's War on Everything and The Hamster Wheel, the show entails comedians delivering entertaining presentations.

Each is full of lies, with only a few truths. The aim of the game is to sneak these facts through and for the panel to attempt to detect them.

The show had its genesis on BBC Radio. The popular radio version of The Unbelievable Truth was created by comedy mastermind Graeme Garden, of The Goodies fame, alongside radio comedian Jon Naismith, who form Random Productions. The hit show has been running since 2006.

Garden also co-produced the show's transmission on to Australian TV screens with the three Chaser stars and was present for the recording. Morrow says the Scottish comedy king's involvement was a huge drawcard.

"All of us have idolised The Goodies from day one so it was a great opportunity," Morrow says over the phone between filming The Hamster Wheel.

"It certainly made it easy to get guests on the show. I would ring people up and say 'There are two ways to ask this question. One would be to say, would you like to come on our new comedy panel game show on Channel 7? The other is, would you like to meet Graeme Garden?' And they were like 'yes'."

Like so many Australians growing up in the 1970s and early 80s, Morrow and co watched cult British TV series The Goodies. The lawyer-turned-comedian/producer says Hansen in particular is a massive fan. Hansen managed to score the gig of emceeing The Goodies' live talking tour a couple of years ago, casually suggesting to Garden The Unbelievable Truth would make a great Aussie TV show.

The idea was pursued, then realised and ready to roll out 18 months later.

The fun game show marks a lighthearted change from the trio's usual political satire. Morrow says this was mainly because it was filmed so early they had to steer away from it being too topical.

Comedian guests include Stephen K Amos, Kitty Flanagan, Shane Jacobson, Akmal Saleh and Sam Simmons, not to mention Garden. The series is also dotted with random cameos by singer Kamahl.

Morrow says adding the visual element to the mix helped to heighten the humour. The sketches, graphics and props brought proceedings to a new level.

"TV is a great opportunity to do silly things that you would never otherwise be able to do," he says.

"We took a horse down to a shoot, Andrew had a koala on set and Sam had a dog on set.

"That's the kind of dress-ups and silliness that we love."

The Unbelievable Truth premieres tomorrow, October 11 at 9.30pm on Seven/GWN7.

(10th Oct)

* Graeme Garden has said to listen out for him on Thursday morning, as he'll be "live on about 8 radio shows" regarding the episode of "The Unbelievable Truth" in which he'll appear that evening.

Let us know if you spot any of the interviews, either prior to broadcast or available for replay online afterwards.

(17th Nov)

* Vanessa Cricklewood got word that one of Graeme's interviews Thursday morning will be on Nova 937 FM radio in Perth.

On the Goodies Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thegoodies) people said they thought some of the other interviews would be on

He is one-third of the comic royalty that was The Goodies and the creator of Seven's new comedy game show The Unbelievable Truth. Now Graeme Garden – the former Goodie with the sideburns and glasses - guest stars on the show's second episode and puts our own comic trickster, Merrick Watts, to the sword.

"I set an elaborate trap for Merrick, and he falls right into it," Garden laughed. "It made me laugh a lot. He's a bright guy but hides it very well with the dumb act he puts on."

Garden, still with spectacles but without the sideburns these days, appears as a panellist alongside Australian comedians Sarah Kendall, Watts and the Chaser's Andrew Hansen. They all try to trick each other with truth and lies about topics such as tattoos, spiders and make-up.

Garden devised The Unbelievable Truth as a radio game show, which became a hit after first airing on the BBC in 2006.

"We thought it would be fun to mix up truth and lies and to get a lot of comedians to separate them out, and with any luck, they say a load of funny things," he said. "We've always wanted to turn it into a TV game show of sorts, but there's a similar show already on air here in England, so it didn't get across the line."

It wasn't until The Goodies' live comedy tour of Australia a couple of years ago that Hansen - who was hosting their tour - suggested they turn it into a TV show here. Under Garden's watchful eye, three of the Chaser boys - Hansen, Julian Morrow and series host Craig Reucassel - are driving the show for Seven.

"They're very amusing, those Chaser boys. They seem quite keen to get away from the naughty satire and pranks and do a bit of straight comedy. I don't know if they'll get paid more, but I guess they'll get sued less."

Other guest comedians in future episodes include Stephen K. Amos, Shane Jacobson, Tom Gleeson, Jimeoin, the Umbilical Brothers and Akmal Saleh. Garden got to know them all during taping of the shows while in Australia.

"I've been to Australia quite a lot doing tours and talks with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. We've always found there to be a very robust comedy scene there. There seems to be a lot of funny ladies in Australia, which we have trouble finding in the UK.

"On the show we have Sarah Kendall, Claudia O'Doherty and Cal Wilson, who are all lovely and very funny.

"Kitty Flanagan is very sharp and lived up to her reputation as a rather naughty girl using a watermelon and a baby bump to tell truths and lies about childbirth."

Australia is the first country to turn Garden's radio show into a TV series. Perhaps that's not so surprising, as The Goodies were actually more popular in Australia than the UK. And that's no lie. Is it?

The Unbelievable Truth airs today at 9.30pm on Seven/GWN7.

(19th Oct)

* The Chaser’s The Unbelievable Truth won its time slot of 9.30pm in its second week on air. (The episode in which Graeme makes his guest appearance)

The celebrity quiz show rated 520,000 and in 22nd spot for total viewers according to preliminary ratings from OzTam.

THIS was always going to be a fun evening with Tim responding to the prompting of Chris Serle.

It went from Tim's expulsion from school at the age of 5 to the present day. It was only when one was told that his professional career began around 50 years ago that one appreciated how long this still boyish faced man had been entertaining us.

Interspersing the memories were clips from television shows and films. These ranged from the blurred prints on rare archive film to the much more recent. Not only were series like The Goodies recalled but also anecdotes about other well loved comedians.

Tim's Margaret Thatcher was hilarious.

The true measure of the success of Tim's career was the way that one remembered without effort reference to characters and programmes from the quite distant past.

This was also evident in the questions posed by the audience wishing to know what had happened to some of Tim's fictional creations from long ago.

This was a truly enjoyable evening, packed with laughter, that passed all too quickly.

While Tim was the focus of our attention, Chris provided an invaluable support which constantly moved the action forward and kept it on track.

* This week's ISIRTA rerun on Radio 4 Extra sounds simply awful. THAT is what the BBC has in its archives?!? Here's a link to the same show, but with good sound, and full length (one of Bill Oddie's songs is missing from the R4X version):

* The Daily Mail provides extracts from the forthcoming book "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: The Best of Forty Years" in an article at the following link. The book will be published in the UK on 4 October 2012.

EVERYONE knows the old ones are always the best and there were three of them on stage at The Forum for a night with the I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue team.

And when it comes to wit and ad libbing, Graham (sic) Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer really are the best you can get.

There wasn't a spare seat in the house as the trio was cheered on to the stage for an hour of priceless reminiscences from the last 40 years.

First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1972, the so-called 'antidote to panel games' was first conceived as a parody of radio and TV panel games.

It consists of two teams of two given silly things to do by a chairman and its success has been down to the utter brilliance not only of its panel members but also its chairman.

The incomparable Humphrey Lyttelton chaired the programme from its inception until his death in 2008 and all three men had no end of wonderful memories of Humph.

With tickets sold out within days for the event, the team members had the audience in the palm of their hand as they played several rounds of the game.

Such gems as singing 'one song in the tune of another', 'late arrivals', 'censored song' and, of course, the infamous 'Mornington Crescent', were all given an airing and the results were hilarious.

Barry sang the words to My Old Man's A Dustman' to the tune of Heartbreak Hotel, while Graham did a brilliant impersonation of Bob Dylan when he sang The Wheels on the Bus to the tune of Blowin' in the Wind.

As there were only three panellists, they requested a volunteer for the round of Mornington Crescent and audience member Max came bouncing excitedly on to the stage, only to leave dejectedly a minute or so later as the game was won by Barry before he'd even had a chance of a go.

With fond references to 'the lovely' Samantha' and with the uber-talented Colin Sell on the piano - and for once given a microphone - the hour fairly sped by and, all too soon, it was time to bid them farewell.

It was a wonderfully tasty titbit to tantalise our tastebuds for the new series, due to start recording this week.

Helen Blow

(10th Oct)

* This week's ISIRTA rerun on Radio 4 Extra/iPlayer is the 25-minute TS version of the show, and in unusually poor sound quality. Unfortunately, I do not have a complete copy of this show in good sound. I have uploaded a copy that I was able to piece together using a good copy of the TS version, plus a bit broadcast a couple of months ago on R4X (proving they do have a full version that they're not sharing), plus several bits from a very poor recording. I'm just warning you that I'm afraid some folks may find the jumps in sound quality too disconcerting to be enjoyable. It's the best I can do at this time.

Inspired by Andrew Pixley and his work to unearth details surrounding The Goodies, I wanted to find out if the program was ever broadcast in my country. It is an ongoing project, and I recently discovered some new information. My sources have been the viewer service of Swedish national TV (SVT), and the old Radio/TV guide "Röster i Radio TV" which is no longer published.

The hard facts: The Goodies broadcast on Swedish Television

The title of the show was translated to "Godisarna", which would be equivalent to "The Goodies" aka "the good guys". This is not a word commonly used in Swedish in that sense, it also means "the sweets/candies" (or, if you're French, "Les Bonbons"…).

In the Swedish Television database, the program is labeled as "English comedy series with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie". Ten episodes from 1974 and 1976 are in the database, all labeled with "no archive". However, I have found two more episodes in the Radio/TV guide, which suggests that there might be a few incorrect pieces of info in that database.

There is at this point in my research no information suggesting that The Goodies was ever dubbed to Swedish. The question of whether any of the episodes were censored or not is also unclear, as the SVT viewer service refused to give me all the information in the database (I suspect they felt it was too much work, clicking on links and sending me the running length of all the episodes).

At the moment of writing, November 15 2012, I have found that the following broadcastings of The Goodies was made in Sweden:

1972 September 8 Kitten Kong

The accompanying article in the Radio/TV guide describes the contents of the show as "hair raising and surreal", and along the same lines as Monty Python's Flying Circus. The guide also mentions that The Goodies had won the Silver Rose in Montreux with Kitten Kong, so this must be the Montreux version. The Montreux Festival that year took place in early May, and on May 12 SVT broadcast a report from the festival – The Goodies and Kitten Kong would definitely have been featured in that program. The amusing thing is that Swedish TV broadcast the Silver Rose winner Kitten Kong the same year as the festival took place, but the Gold Rose winner of 1972 wasn't broadcast until August 30 1974 – it was Austria, with a surreal Monty Python-like comedy program.

1974 March 1 8.30pm The New Office

Not included in the database, this broadcast suggests some sort of trial for The Goodies, as it is the first of five episodes that are broadcast a few months later. The Radio/TV guide gets things horribly wrong in the accompanying article, claiming that "They are called 'goodies' in this series, but they have also performed under the name Monty Python."

Not included in the database, as I'm writing this I have just discovered this broadcast date (broadcast time unknown at the moment). See below for more info on the 1976 broadcast of the episode.

1976 April 16 6.30pm The Movies

Not included in the database, this was broadcast on Good Friday at a fairly family friendly time compared with the 1972 run. The Radio/TV guide calls this "The Goodies' Film Feast" and mentions that it won the Silver Rose in Montreux in 1975.

June 27 8pm Clown Virus

Database title given as Clown Virus. The Radio/TV guide has a long article about The Goodies (a full two page spread + some more text on a later page). Typically, the photos accompanying the article are all from the recording of Rome Antics, an episode not broadcast in this run. The article starts with the story about Alex Mitchell who died laughing to the Kung Fu Kapers episode. (series 5 ep 2)

July 4 8pm Bunfight at the O.K. Tearooms

No title given in database, but there is an episode synopsis in the Radio/TV guide. (series 5 ep 12)

July 11 8pm South Africa

No title given in database, but there is an episode synposis in the Radio/TV guide. (series 5 ep 11)

July 18 8pm Light House Keeping Loonies

No title given in database, but there is an accompanying article in the Radio/TV guide. (series 5 ep 8)

August 1 8pm Fleet Street Goodies

Database title given as Cunning Stunts. (series 5 ep 10)

6. FEATURE ARTICLE

******************

(by Isabell Olevall)

BEING IN THE AUDIENCE: "It was a lovely time of my life."

The quote in the headline is from Olga Ruocco, who went to recordings of The Goodies and a lot of other radio and TV comedy shows back in the day.

I was fortunate enough to talk with not only Olga, but also with Pete Merrett, both of them eager to share their memories of being audience members for recordings of The Goodies and various other comedy shows on radio and TV. Both Pete and Olga came to The Goodies after having listened to radio comedy program I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (ISIRTA, the show where our three Goodies worked together before launching onto the telly). Pete and Olga went to a lot of recordings, starting with ISIRTA in 1968. When it comes to Goodies recordings, Pete went to 25 of them, from the Montreux special in 1972 to "Earthanasia" in 1977. Olga went to all recordings of the first two series of The Goodies (20 episodes), and if I got it right also "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" in 1974. I also got a memory from Greg Crichton, who went to see "Punky Business" in 1977.

I also had a chat with Veronica Patrick, who discovered Graeme, Tim and Bill by listening to ISIRTA around 1969-70. She later watched The Goodies right from the start, and went to one recording in 1976, and twice during the LWT series 1981-82 ("Bigfoot" and one other episode).

Sorting out the Goodies memories from all other memories has been a bit tricky, as I find myself sitting and listening to the recordings with a happy smile on my face, forgetting to take notes. The shows that they all went to are comedy gems and it has been wonderful to be able to take part of all these memories.

Getting tickets

Tickets for a recording of a comedy program like The Goodies would be acquired by writing to the BBC Ticket Unit, asking for a number of tickets – or you could stand outside the theatre asking audience members for spare tickets (there were always spares). There was also the possibility of being put on the guest list by the producer, director or a cast member and get a ticket that way, or if you knew someone working at the BBC who was able to get an extra ticket for you.

Before the recordings

Olga and her friends would arrive quite early – for the ISIRTA recordings around 5 hours in advance – standing outside the theatre laughing, telling jokes. Of course, after standing outside for so long you would need to be warmed up… And you were, as there was a warm up act before the actual recording started. For The Goodies, it was often John Junkin (who worked with Tim on "Hello, Cheeky!") and also every once in a while Barry Cryer (comedy legend who also worked on "Hello, Cheeky!" and who is still going strong with Graeme and Tim on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue"). Olga recalls that one of her friends was nearly punched, since he shouted out the punchlines and John Junkin wasn't happy about that. Well, what do you expect if you tell the same jokes each week? Somehow, they didn't expect people in the audience to come back week after week, so of course you would learn the warm up act fairly quickly.

Break time

Greg says about the one episode he went to that he was thinking that "it did take a long time to record". I can imagine there being a lot of breaks, when they needed to reset things and also there would often be a need for retakes when somebody corpsed (very often Bill, is my impression)

In the intervals between takes, Tim would always get in an extra baked beans advertisement. Pete quotes one:

"Here is the baked bean boy rhyme they wouldn't let me do:

I've just seen our producer take a girl behind the screens –

I don't know what he's giving her, but I bet it's not baked beans!"

(and the producer slaps him)

After the recording

Pete has collected a lot of scripts from various shows, which to me sounds like an impossibility. Did he steal them after the show? Did he go through the waste paper baskets on stage? No, wait – that last thing was when he went to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue… For TV recordings, you would need to talk to the studio manager and be on his good side, because at the end of the recording you then shouted out "script, script!" and the studio manager would hand you a script. Sounds simple, right? But if you were unlucky, you'd get a camera script – which had no dialogue and only various notes about camera angles. The script you were really after, was a script with dialogue in, from one of the three sound booms.

Veronica says she was a bit overwhelmed when she went to her first recording in 1976 - a completely normal feeling upon meeting your heroes for the first time after watching the series for 5-6 years. Back in those days, there were no internet forums where you could meet other fans, laugh together and reminisce about episodes. Finding other likeminded fans and meeting them, says Veronica, "was all so lovely". We both agree that this fandom is amazing, as everyone is welcome and we all have such a good time together, no matter if we've known each other for years or just met!

Listen for yourself!

If you want to listen to the full interviews (and you will want to do that, I promise), the Pete & Olga chat is on the Goodies Podcast, and the Veronica chat (which is a lot about being fans, with memories from ISIHAC as well) will be on the podcast later on. There are a lot of references to other UK radio and TV comedy shows aside from The Goodies, but hopefully you will be able to keep up with most of it, if not all.

With all the references to ISIRTA, I hope that those of you who are not familiar with the program will take this as your cue to learn more about it (especially since next year marks the start of the 50th anniversary celebrations, if we can pull them together). It is a quite hilarious show – and there are reruns on BBC Radio 4 Extra. If you want to talk with other fans of this show and other Goodies related programs, seek out the ISIRTA facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2246952707/ ) – that's where I found Olga, Pete and Greg. I stumbled across Veronica at the Goodies Gathering in Manchester in 2010, but that's a whole other story!

Try to find all the listed words in the puzzle. Words may be found horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Upon completion, the 14 unused letters can be rearranged to form a solution of four words (3, 3, 4 & 4 letters) from this episode - clue: "A Trendsetters Ball contestant"